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Even those who believe that climate change must be met with firm action, such as Kyoto-type restrictions on economic activity, must acknowledge the futility of this effort. There is no way to reduce emissions enough to compensate for new emissions from coal-using countries such as China. See excerpt below, but I encourage reading full article (link):

China Fears Consumer Impact on Global Warming

GUANGZHOU, China — Premier Wen Jiabao has promised to use an “iron hand” this summer to make his nation more energy efficient. The central government has ordered cities to close inefficient factories by September, like the vast Guangzhou Steel mill here, where most of the 6,000 workers will be laid off or pushed into early retirement.

By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: July 4, 2010

GUANGZHOU, China — Premier Wen Jiabao has promised to use an “iron hand” this summer to make his nation more energy efficient. The central government has ordered cities to close inefficient factories by September, like the vast Guangzhou Steel mill here, where most of the 6,000 workers will be laid off or pushed into early retirement.

Already, in the last three years, China has shut down more than a thousand older coal-fired power plants that used technology of the sort still common in the United States. China has also surpassed the rest of the world as the biggest investor in wind turbines and other clean energy technology. And it has dictated tough new energy standards for lighting and gas mileage for cars.

But even as Beijing imposes the world’s most rigorous national energy campaign, the effort is being overwhelmed by the billionfold demands of Chinese consumers.

Chinese and Western energy experts worry that China’s energy challenge could become the world’s problem — possibly dooming any international efforts to place meaningful limits on global warming.

If China cannot meet its own energy-efficiency targets, the chances of avoiding widespread environmental damage from rising temperatures “are very close to zero,” said Fatih Birol, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency in Paris.

What stuns me is that participants in gabfests such as Copenhagen must know they are wasting their time. It's OK with me if they wish to waste their time. Please, just don't hurt the living standards of middle class and poor people who can't afford it, while Al Gore jets the world in his private jet.

If it's us or them, I choose us.
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Freedom speaks English.
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September 11; a moment of great moral clarity